“That’s what keeps me humble, because I know my background, know what my mother went through,” said James. ”I never get too high on my stardom or what I can do. My mom always says, and my friends say, ‘You’re just a very low-maintenance guy.’”

You know, because all “low-maintenance” guys require two lockers in the corner of the locker room right by the trainers, request that their friends have full-time paying jobs and travel amenities with the team, and schedule their own media requests with the networks of their choosing.

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

We all remember in the Bird and Magic documentary that aired how they talked about spending their offseasons doing shots for trendy fashion magazines and ripping their former owners.

Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.

"I don't think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: 'You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You'll get a good sense of their character.' Me and my family have seen the character of that man."

As opposed to his way of facing adversity: Sticking his tail between his legs and running off to Miami to piggyback on someone else's coattails in order to win a championship.

I am a little tired of the "my mother always told me" crap. Like this is some tight-knit loving family.Momma was AWOL in your life until you became her meal ticket. Momma didn't always tell you anything, cause she wasn't around.

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

OldDawg wrote:I am a little tired of the "my mother always told me" crap. Like this is some tight-knit loving family.Momma was AWOL in your life until you became her meal ticket. Momma didn't always tell you anything, cause she wasn't around.

This x 1,000

Exactly what I was thinking when I read that.

So now his mother, the crack whore, is some all knowing sage full of wisdom? It'd be like Lindsey Lohan doing an interview and offering up some nuggets that her father told her as a way of explaining why she turned out so awesome.

Nah, it is ramped up a lot. Most people knew he always had a little d-bag in him, there is certainly no reason to pretend we should have known he was this much of a narssistic d-bag. If it had always been known the media outside of Skip Bayless would have been crushing him for years. The bs he pulled before was childs play compared to this. What was the most ridiculous/arrogant thing he did previous? Not shaking hands with the magic? Taking fake pictures on the sidelines? Stiffing a waitress on a tip (in a non-Tiger way)? Speeding? He never gave indications that he was this oblivious, I dont feel as if I should have known it was this bad.

I'm just amazed that there's been a line drawn in the sand all this time between Cleveland and Akron and I'm just now hearing about it.

The guy is playing up to his role of NBA villian. By having all this stuff come out since July 8th it makes it easier on him because now the city he played in for 7 years is finding out he was never loyal to them, just his own little town. The more Clevelanders hate him, the easier it is for him to live w/ the decision. He'll use it as motivation to put up 50+ everytime he faces the Cavs and stare a hole straight through Gilbert. His post game presser will consist of him being humbled coming back to the Q in the visitors locker room. It'll also consist of a "I told you so" tone as he'll point out how he's just an innocent victim of the poison being spewed by Cleveland fans and that he knows now, deep down, he made the correct choice.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

Ziner wrote:Nah, it is ramped up a lot. Most people knew he always had a little d-bag in him, there is certainly no reason to pretend we should have known he was this much of a narssistic d-bag. If it had always been known the media outside of Skip Bayless would have been crushing him for years. The bs he pulled before was childs play compared to this. What was the most ridiculous/arrogant thing he did previous? Not shaking hands with the magic? Taking fake pictures on the sidelines? Stiffing a waitress on a tip (in a non-Tiger way)? Speeding? He never gave indications that he was this oblivious, I dont feel as if I should have known it was this bad.

Really? The Hummer purchase in high school and jepoardizing the season for his teammates, the shit like disrupting high school shoot arounds so he could play with his remote control cars, the dishing of off the ball in crunch time of State championship games (and Piston playoff games) so that accountability for actually winning/losing couldn't be his ("hey, I made the right pass and XXX missed the shot" or "How about my pass that gave XXX the look to win it because of my unselfishness"), the fact he never introduced himself or even said hello to Joe Tait in the seven years he was here, chafing under Paul Silas's structure and discipline, the lackeys given the run of the city/arena/locker room, etc?

None of it should have given me a really big clue huh?

Nope- Passing it off as a kid having fun or unselfish or taking care of his buddies was way too easy. You look at it how you choose Z. But there were more than enough hints that I should have picked up on.

I chose not to. Guy was ours and he was the most talented cat in the building every night. That was good enough.

Did you know he didn't say hi to Tait before a few weeks ago? The stuff in high school is something a high school kid does. The stuff he pulled lately is not something a 25 y/o "man" pulls. The passing stuff has nothing to do with arrogance IMO. Either he is afraid or doesnt want to accountability both are difference from arrogance and a general ignorance of reality. There is reason the rest of the world is piling on now as well. It isnt just people on Cleveland message boards. If it were the "we should have known" holds more credence. And like I said to start with, who here didnt know he had a certain level of d-bag in him? I dont think it is crazy to be surprised at the level of it.

Ziner wrote:The stuff in high school is something a high school kid does. The stuff he pulled lately is not something a 25 y/o "man" pulls. I dont think it is crazy to be surprised at the level of it.

Disagree. The stuff he's pulled as a 25yr old is exactly the stuff a 25 yr old who was a giant a-hole at 18 and never had to grow up would pull.

It was there. From the Hummer to the remote controlled Hummer disrupting games, to the fact he gets suspended for taking free jerseys and did every single thing with the self awareness he displayed about 'The Decision'?

Fuck. The prima donna shit, Silas hating his friends, flopping to the floor and taking fifteen minutes to get off the floor when a PG glanced off him, Yankee shit at Tribe games, etc.

Call me Andy Baskin. But there's a shit load of truth to all of it when you look back. It was funny then, it was tough shit to the detractors because they were jealous.

No dude. He was a giant d-bag. Enormous. This ain't out of character. This is his lack of character.

Talk a little bit about LeBron's inner circle—not just family and publicists, but the old teammates and coaches you met in Cleveland.Well, he was surrounded by a layer of family, then a layer of old friends, and then a layer of Nike people—so Cleveland was where I really got the sense that he is possibly, really insulated from the outside world. All famous people have entourages and inner circles, but this struck me as something larger, even more protective, and harder to break through. I got the sense also that it might've been what kept him from gauging the mood in the real world as people waited for his decision. He really did seem to be at the center of an enormous group of handlers, helpers, and managers—and I'm sure that makes him feel good on a day-to-day basis, but there's a downside to that, too.

I think that's hard to know from a distance, but I do think that he draws obvious comfort from being surrounded by people who love him—and I don't see anything wrong with that. But as with anything, all that comfort comes at a cost, and I think that his fear of being alone keeps him at times from walking through the fire that we all have to walk through. Maybe sitting alone in a room and thinking might have helped him realize that an hour-long special devoted to his decision was ill advised. My suspicion from watching him surrounded by people wherever he goes is that he's not spending a lot of time alone in a room thinking through things.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

Larvell Blanks wrote:I'm just amazed that there's been a line drawn in the sand all this time between Cleveland and Akron and I'm just now hearing about it.

very much so on this.

My mom's side of the family was from Fairlawn and Tallmadge, I had an uncle that went to the Tribe games back in the mid to late 80's at the old stadium and loved that team, We all cheered for the Tribe in the 90's and were always supportive of the area. Never heard of once some one going out of their way to disrespect the city on the North Coast over the course of my entire existence.

Where were these people that were rambling on about how they hated Cleveland? I never heard it growing up in the 'burbs, neither did my friend who grew up in Ellet.

You know and it's funny too, Kosar was from Youngstown and never shed the label of "Hometown kid", or pulled any of this of this crap. But I guess this is what separates No. 19 from D-Wade's bitch.

Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.

The real shame about all this is that he didn't go to the Knicks. It would have made it so much easier to watch and cheer for that all to fail. But, he will probably find success in Miami and Cleveland fans will be left eating a bag of shit.

It's pretty apparent that Lebron grew up hating Cleveland fans. Imagine the type of shit he got in school by being a Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees fan. He probably detests the whole loser mentality of the area and couldn't wait to get the hell away (once he couldn't change it).

Ziner wrote:The stuff in high school is something a high school kid does. The stuff he pulled lately is not something a 25 y/o "man" pulls. I dont think it is crazy to be surprised at the level of it.

Disagree. The stuff he's pulled as a 25yr old is exactly the stuff a 25 yr old who was a giant a-hole at 18 and never had to grow up would pull.

It was there. From the Hummer to the remote controlled Hummer disrupting games, to the fact he gets suspended for taking free jerseys and did every single thing with the self awareness he displayed about 'The Decision'?

Fuck. The prima donna shit, Silas hating his friends, flopping to the floor and taking fifteen minutes to get off the floor when a PG glanced off him, Yankee shit at Tribe games, etc.

Call me Andy Baskin. But there's a shit load of truth to all of it when you look back. It was funny then, it was tough shit to the detractors because they were jealous.

No dude. He was a giant d-bag. Enormous. This ain't out of character. This is his lack of character.

And it was always lacking.

Not realizing it is on me.

YMMV

^Truth

All the stuff that once appeared to be petty on the surface, when added up shows what a cluster f*** it's been all along. We were too blinded by what he brought on the court to see it. I'm guilty of it. Just like Browns fans will worship and love Jim Brown for what he's done on the field and his community service. Nevermind the fact that he likes to use his woman like Rocky used a side of beef when training. At least Brown helped bring a championship to Cleveland.

James has never had to fend for himself. He's been/being led by people who rely on him for their own celebrity so they'll never tell him when something shouldn't be done. The fear of being cast from the kingdom insures that James will be surrounded by loyal, YES, friends.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

I think Peeker is right and Lebron was always a D-bag but we overlooked all of his bullshit since he was delivering the goods. That's on all of us that fell for that shit. Should have known better, in objective hindsight his bullshit attitude was always pretty obvious and we just didn't want to see it.

If you get bored check-out the Chicago Tribune online today. They ran the excerpts from the GQ story and the local Chicagoan's are piling on him really good. They are all calling him a dbag, delusional and saying why would Cleveland want him back. Good to see it's not just Clevelanders that dislike this prick. The whole country see's it.

The real shame about all this is that he didn't go to the Knicks. It would have made it so much easier to watch and cheer for that all to fail. But, he will probably find success in Miami and Cleveland fans will be left eating a bag of shit.

Doesn't matter if he finds success in Miami or not. He's shown his ass already and he can't un-show it. Any title he wins in South Florida will be as meaningful as if he'd purchased it for 25 cents out of a grocery-store gumball machine. And we can't lose what we never had or would have had. LeBron would have never won a title here.

It's pretty apparent that Lebron grew up hating Cleveland fans. Imagine the type of shit he got in school by being a Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees fan. He probably detests the whole loser mentality of the area and couldn't wait to get the hell away (once he couldn't change it).

I think he really started to resent the pressure fans placed on him to end the drought. I don't think he figured it was in his job description.

Ziner wrote:Fuck. The prima donna shit, Silas hating his friends, flopping to the floor and taking fifteen minutes to get off the floor when a PG glanced off him, Yankee shit at Tribe games, etc.

Call me Andy Baskin. But there's a shit load of truth to all of it when you look back. It was funny then, it was tough shit to the detractors because they were jealous.

No dude. He was a giant d-bag. Enormous. This ain't out of character. This is his lack of character.

And it was always lacking.

Not realizing it is on me.

YMMV

Don't expect to see this kind of angst out of you, Peek. And IMO it's unwarranted. He was our guy, we should have had his back while he gave us any reason to. And his play on the floor gave us that reason. Just like Albert Belle.

hermanfontenot wrote:Don't expect to see this kind of angst out of you, Peek. And IMO it's unwarranted. He was our guy, we should have had his back while he gave us any reason to. And his play on the floor gave us that reason. Just like Albert Belle.

He's the asshole, not you, not us. Just roll with it, broham.

For the defense of him on the floor I'll lean toward agreement. I still think he's at or near the most gifted athlete I've ever seen.

But being completely blind to everything else? No excuses. You had it right, others had it close. It's just not in him to be a leader. Not when it requires putting your interests behind the common goal. The guy is/was incapable of doing that. His unselfishness on the floor is part basketball IQ, part "Look how unselfish I am". HE is his only goal. No one else, nothing else matters. And he still can't see it because he's so wrapped inside himself.

To be completely oblivious to how pathetic and loathsome a guy like that is for that long is simply beyond me.

Hard for me to throw stones at a guy I sheltered and harbored for close to ten years. Not because I don't dislike him intensely but because I'm afraid of getting hit with one of 'em myself.

hermanfontenot wrote:Don't expect to see this kind of angst out of you, Peek. And IMO it's unwarranted. He was our guy, we should have had his back while he gave us any reason to. And his play on the floor gave us that reason. Just like Albert Belle.

He's the asshole, not you, not us. Just roll with it, broham.

For the defense of him on the floor I'll lean toward agreement. I still think he's at or near the most gifted athlete I've ever seen.

But being completely blind to everything else? No excuses. You had it right, others had it close. It's just not in him to be a leader. Not when it requires putting your interests behind the common goal. The guy is/was incapable of doing that. His unselfishness on the floor is part basketball IQ, part "Look how unselfish I am". HE is his only goal. No one else, nothing else matters. And he still can't see it because he's so wrapped inside himself.

To be completely oblivious to how pathetic and loathsome a guy like that is for that long is simply beyond me.

Hard for me to throw stones at a guy I sheltered and harbored for close to ten years. Not because I don't dislike him intensely but because I'm afraid of getting hit with one of 'em myself.

While I tend to agree here - it might be for a different reason. Mine, well, I was apathetic to all the bullshit because it's 2010 and I see this from athletes on a regular basis.

To be quite honest, any of the bullshit that comes out now, not really suprising - from Lebron or any other pro athlete. Sure LBJ's level of entitlement is inflated by his status, but none of it makes me hate the guy anymore than I already do. And I'm certainly waaay past the point of beating myself up over it.

I've said before all this went down that it was shocking that LBJ came off as well as he did considering his background, in that respect I was wrong, or like Peek insinuates - duped. But, again, oh well. Another modern athlete on the list.

leadpipe wrote:While I tend to agree here - it might be for a different reason. Mine, well, I was apathetic to all the bullshit because it's 2010 and I see this from athletes on a regular basis.

To be quite honest, any of the bullshit that comes out now, not really suprising - from Lebron or any other pro athlete. Sure LBJ's level of entitlement is inflated by his status, but none of it makes me hate the guy anymore than I already do. And I'm certainly waaay past the point of beating myself up over it.

I've said before all this went down that it was shocking that LBJ came off as well as he did considering his background, in that respect I was wrong, or like Peek insinuates - duped. But, again, oh well. Another modern athlete on the list.

"Duped" is as good a word as I can think of. And I feel like I'm too old and have seen it all too often to be duped. But yeah, foolish and shoulda known better about sums it up.

Toxicadam wrote:Imagine the type of shit he got in school by being a Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees fan.

But doesn't this fit what you see from him now.It is safe to be a fan of Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees. They are/were the best. There is no risk involved. No effort needed. Hey, its easy to pull for those teams.

Isn't that what he just did with his career? It would be tough to stay and make a champion out of the Cavs. It is safe to make your own all-star team. No risk.

The guy really isn't a competitor. He doesn't really like a challenge.

Wus.

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

Toxicadam wrote:Imagine the type of shit he got in school by being a Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees fan.

But doesn't this fit what you see from him now.It is safe to be a fan of Cowboys/Bulls/Yankees. They are/were the best. There is no risk involved. No effort needed. Hey, its easy to pull for those teams.

Isn't that what he just did with his career? It would be tough to stay and make a champion out of the Cavs. It is safe to make your own all-star team. No risk.

The guy really isn't a competitor. He doesn't really like a challenge.

Wus.

Yep, he's incredibly insecure. Although at this point, calling him insecure is kind of like calling Hitler "not such a nice guy".

Should have been much more aware of this all going down, and at the same time much more aware of his short comings on the court as well, however it was just to easy to fall prey to the end results as the weeks went by for 7 years. I think deep down inside a lot of us did see his faults on the court but it was just to tempting to overlook them b/c we've been so deprived, we're thirsty God damnit, we'll drink almost anything.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

peeker643 wrote:I can't start talking about LBJ's lack of awareness again until I'm no longer amazed by my own.

Anything I could continue to say about him reflects just as poorly on me for not wanting to see it all before when he was 'ours'.

Personally, I'm too old to fall for that shit like I did. I'm nearly as ashamed of myself as I am of him to be perfectly honest.

I'm betting you're now teaching your kids what you've just learned in some simple way for them to understand they're just tools in the sports shed.

Athletes are what they are because the fan base has made them so by buying into the idolization and marketing hyperbole.

In short, 'you' made LaPunk what he is and deserve to be embarrassed over being so naive in the first place as to believe anyone of these dopes is out for anything but themselves.

LeBron is stupid....what a revelation

'You' as in Cav Fan, wanted him because of his skills and the fact that he was from close to home...period. The fact he's an ignorant fool incapable of doing anything but dribbling a fucking basketball never entered anyone's mind...in fact, I'd bet that anyone who portrayed him as such prior to his being drafted would have been vililfied...just get 'us' a fucking ring, please.

Its far more profitable to beg on street corners................eh?

The problem, for all of us, is giving a rats ass in the first place.

I basically quit following sports religously, like most guys do, when I started seeing HS games on ESPN and when Marcus Vick signed a letter of intent in 8th grade

Ya'll get too wrapped up in this shit and where some see an outlet from the daily routine, I see self-induced stress over numbskulls that use you for your $

This is why no matter how much I want to see the Brownies win a SB or 2 or 3, at the end of the day, I don't really give a shit. None of 'it' or those involved in 'it' is worth 'our' involment in their la la land world.

Comming from the ghetto or a hard luck life situation doesn't mean you don't need a reality check, LaLoser.

Just my nickels worth

Hope is a moment now long pastThe Shadow of Death is the one I castKoo koo ka joob....I am the Walrus

So how silly does all the credit he got for being "saavy" with his PR look now? Dude never schemed up any of the attention grabbing things he said, he just said em', and likely with completely different intentions than people thought....

All these comments about him knowing exactly what he was doing stirring up constant attention.....he didn't "mastermind" that so his brand recognition would gain strength, he was just a fucking narcissist with no perspective on the world outside his bubble.

Also, still wondering why the Elbow issue has gone quietly into the night....I want somebody to go to town on him about that for some real answers. A fake elbow issue paints an UGLY picture, and would all but confirm that he consciously quit on his team against Boston.

Why can't Simmons or any of the people at ESPN mention the Gloria/Delonte rumor? Ordered by ESPN to not talk about it so that their access to LeBron isn't taken away?[/quote

That is the first logical reason that comes to mind, but who else would he give complete access to? Fox Sports or FSN Miami. He almost has no other choice but to use them as he media whoring avenue. They have the closest thing to a sports entertainment monopoly as there is. They are probably just waiting for that legit source to come to them, and that probably won't happen while LeDouche is still an active player.

Why should we be surprised that Akron hated Cleveland. The kids in Cleveland high schools now can't even share a bus stop with another school or else they fucking get in a riot. Cleveland people hate themselves, why should out of towners love us?

The King's perception of life kind of reminds me of an interview I watched about 10 years ago with Paul McCartney. He basically wanted to thank each and every one of us mortals here on earth for being part of his dream. All of "us" playing our role has made his dream come true, and he just wanted "us" to know how much he really appreciates it.

tired wrote:Now the SOB will be on the sidelines of TOSU-Cryami game !!! Hates Cleveland but, loves Columbus ???

Meh...every time he gets on a plane there's that glimmer of hope that it will fail to reach its destination intact.

Other than that....emptiness in regard to where he goes or what he does.

Do we even know which sideline he's standing on?

Not that I care which one. I can only hope that it's not the one where Zach Boren makes an over the shoulder catch while running toward the sideline an stumbles into and lands on LBJ's knee. Because that would break my fucking heart.

Tune in to ESPN2 tonight for a half hour special where they reveal which sideline he will stand on.

Motherscratcher wrote:Do we even know which sideline he's standing on?

Not that I care which one. I can only hope that it's not the one where Zach Boren makes an over the shoulder catch while running toward the sideline an stumbles into and lands on LBJ's knee. Because that would break my fucking heart.

Tune in to ESPN2 tonight for a half hour special where they reveal which sideline he will stand on.

No way one player can get through the barrier of LRMR and hangers-on that'll be surrounding James. They'll be like the '88 Dolphins protecting Marino. It'll take a multi player pile up to get to James but he'll probably go all Crouching Tiger and just jump over the pile of humanity, just to spite my hope.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB